What’s the Right Thing To Seek? 該尋求甚麼正確的事？

Eighteenth Ordinary Sunday, Year C

Theme: What’s the Right Thing To Seek? 該尋求甚麼正確的事？

In the gospel story today, a man asked Jesus to help him get his due. “Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me” (Luke 12:13). My first impression of Jesus’ response was that He evaded the issue of justice to talk about something less crucial. In so doing, I felt that Jesus was not doing justice to the man, was He?

When the issue of inheritance arose, the parable of the Prodigal Son immediately came to mind. In the present case, most probably the man’s brother was the elder son who was in control of the inheritance left behind after their father’s demise. For some reasons, this elder brother seemed to be reluctant to share the inheritance with him. Therefore, this man came to seek Jesus’ help because Jesus was not as the scribes. “He taught them as one that had authority.” (Mark 1:22) Hopefully, Jesus’ authority would bend his brother. This was a rather civilized approach. Had this man been a thug, he would have chosen a more violent path and resorted to murder! But Jesus declined to exercise His authority to settle their dispute and turned to the crowd to talk about greed. Would teaching about greed settle injustice?

We have only heard one side of the story and don’t know why the elder brother did not share the inheritance. An obvious explanation is that the elder brother was greedy. But there might be other possibilities. Again the Parable of the Prodigal Son could be helpful. What happened after the younger brother acquired his share of inheritance in the Parable? Probably the elder brother knew that his younger brother would “squander his inheritance on a life of dissipation” (Luke 15:13b) So, the elder brother could be right in not sharing the inheritance! Had Jesus helped the younger brother, He would have engendered an injustice! Of course, it could have been both: the elder brother was really greedy while the younger brother was but a scumbag! Therefore, in teaching against greed, Jesus was not evading responsibility but went directly to the root of issue.

What does Jesus teach? He teaches us to focus on the most essential things in life. He reminds us, “For though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions” (Luke 12:15). Then Jesus tells the Parable of the Rich Fool to elaborate. “You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?” (12:20) This line echoes the same sentiment shown in the first reading today. It is a perennial truth all parents must acknowledge. “For here is one who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill, and that one’s legacy must be left to another who has not toiled for it. This also is vanity and a great evil” (Ecclesiastes 2:21).

Let’s put aside those who accumulate wealth for themselves to the exclusion of all other people. St. Paul has already condemned those people, “For the love of money is the root of all evils, and some people in their desire for it have stayed from their faith and have pierced themselves with many pains” (1 Timothy 6:10). The love of money is an intrinsic evil because money makes people feel secure. Money emboldens people to the extent that they would harden their hearts towards the needy, such as the anonymous rich man in the Parable of The Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31), and the rich begin not to feel the need of God. With greater wealth and power, they even start playing God themselves.
Am I exaggerating? No! Take a look at the second reading today. When Paul exhorts the faithful to renounce evil, he says, “Put to death, then, the parts of you that are earthly: immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and the greed that is idolatry” (Colossians 3:5). Why did Paul equate greed with idolatry? It is because idols offer people shortcuts to get rich and to acquire whatever they desire through magic/witchcraft. The worship of Yahweh gave the Israelites freedom from slavery. But fertility cult in Canaan appealed more directly to our needs in the lower hierarchy. It was hard to resist for the Israelites and for humanity in general. Freedom is too abstract to feed the belly!

It is a consolation that not many people can be as rich and as powerful as Messrs. Bill Gates and Li Ka-shing. Yet, it is undeniable that the modern secular world is run by wealth. We can’t live in this city without this resource. We need to prepare for projects in the future and parents need to reserve resources for their children’s consumption though they know all too well that their children might not be able to handle the inheritance properly. As a Chinese aphorism goes, “Wealth never lasts more than three generations”. Thus, the accumulation of wealth is not necessarily evil as long as we take the others into consideration. The key point is how to management our wealth properly. So, what’s the best strategy a Christian should deploy in their investment?

Christ teaches us a philosophy of financial management, “Thus will it be (foolish) for the one who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich in what matters to God” (Luke 12:21). What does it mean by “to be rich in what matters to God”? To a certain extent, Luke was paraphrasing Paul’s teaching. Paul says, “Tell the rich in the present age not to be proud and not to rely on so uncertain a thing as wealth but rather on God … Tell them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous, ready to share, thus accumulating as treasure a good foundation for the future, so as to win the life that is true life” (1 Timothy 6:17-19) In telling the rich “not to be proud”, Paul warns against the illusionary empowerment of money which tempts us to play God. “To do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share” are concrete and practical actions to accumulate treasure in heaven. Why do these actions “matter to God”? It is because in loving our neighbour, we love God (Matthew 25:40). “For whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:20). Thus, our acts of charity or the lack of them is linked with God.

Why is doing good work such an essential step? Let’s take a look from another perspective. Doing good work has to do with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit a spirit of charity. It was the Holy Spirit who inspired us to love the needy and to love the unlovable. On the other hand, Paul likens the Holy Spirit as God’s down payment of our inheritance in heaven (2 Corinthians 1:22; 5:5, Ephesians 1:13-14). Last week, we read that our Father in heaven is eager to “give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him” (Luke 11:13). But don’t forget, God would also take the Holy Spirit away from us (1 Samuel 16:14, Psalms 51:13). Thus, not only should we aim at the possession of the Holy Spirit, but we should also take care to preserve the Holy Spirit given to us. The BVM is an excellent exemplar. She is full of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35) and as a carrier of the Holy Spirit, she moves around to extend a helping hand to whoever is in need (1:39-40, John 2:3)! That explains why doing good work is an essential step in the preservation of the Holy Spirit in us, thus ensuring that we’ll get rich in heaven.

Brethren! Don’t be short-sighted when we handle worldly business which would easily occupy our full attention. Take time off to seek the right thing! Seek not immediate fairness because it might not last long. Instead, set our sight to eternal richness and seek it! Amen.
God bless!
2016 Reflection
Picture Credit: wikipedia